Just when I thought that I was out of the loop on travel trends, I ran across this round-up from TripAdvisor. It was a bit of a surprise to see from the above graphic that I had been to four out of the five fastest destinations.

I generally eschew these types of stories about travel, but some sources are worth attention. Those of you more active in the professional travel industry may have more up to date trend information, but here’s the study that is this one from TripAdvisor that looked at six months of booking data for day tours to tell us what’s changing in the patterns. Experiences with real locals are overtaking the check-the-box sightseeing jaunts, though somehow already packed Vatican City tours saw a 61% increase. Percentages are deceiving since those with a lower starting level have more room to run, but the activities rated the highest are on an even playing field. The highest-ranked global ones over six months were cooking classes, surfing/windsurfing, craft classes, and activities on two wheels. See the options where you’re headed here.